So this year I finally got the chance to make a jack o’ lantern by myself for the first time! I’d been wanting to make one for years as I’d only “helped” make them as a kid and I think it turned out great,! Even if a little wonky, but I think it works in his favour.
Also when I made the jack o’ lantern I saved the pieces that I cut out and the seeds, to do something with later. Have you got pictures of your spooky jack o’ lanterns? Share them in the comments.

These tin can lanterns are so cute and are great to either just arrange around the house or you could hang them outside to decorate your garden. They are also great for this time of year with Halloween coming up. You could do a ‘spooky’ design onto your can instead of making a mess with pumpkins. So this is how you make them.

1. You need to start off with your tin can and make sure that it’s totally clean and you have all the sticky stuff off. I found this a total pain to do, but stick with it.

2. Once you have a clean can you need to start to draw your design onto your can with the dry wipe maker. An alternative is to draw your design onto paper and fasten onto your can with some tape.

3. Once you have your design on your can you are ready to start making some holes. Stuffing your can with old cloths or tea towels helps with it keeping its shape. Get your nail or pointy thing and hammer and carefully start making holes. You might even be able to just push your point through the can without hammering depending on the thickness of your can. I started off mine by hammering but in the end i found it easier to just push it threw. Make as many holes as you want to get your desired look. Bear in mind that the thickness of your nail will be the size of the hole so you could use different thicknesses for different results. Make sure you make two holes opposite at the top of the can if you’re planning on hanging it later.

4. Once your tin can has the amount of holes you want you could now paint it and let it dry. Then it would be a good time to either loop some wire or string through those holes you made at the top or leave your lantern with no handle.

5. Pop a tea light into your tin can and voila you have a tin can lantern!

This is a fun and simple project and the finished result looks great, it makes a spiffy new decoration for any wall. Most of the materials can be found around the house and the rest are cheap and easy to find in any stationary shop or supermarket. So this is how I made mine.

1. I started off with my cork notice board which I painted baby pink to go with the colour scheme of my room.
You could skip this first step if you want to keep a more rustic feel with the cork board design.
I also found that cork notice boards are a lot cheaper than proper cork tiles.

2. While you wait for the paint to dry you can draw the design outline on some paper. Once it’s dry place it onto the board in the position you want.

3. Start placing your pins or nails over the paper design, make sure you use enough pins to get your desired look.

4. Once you have placed all your pins you can carefully rip of the paper around your pins.

5. Now you’re ready for the fun part. Start by knotting your thread or string onto one of the pins and loop around the other pins until you get your desired look then tie off with another knot. Repeat for each shape or letter of your pin design.
I chose to use a different coloured thread for each shape to make it stand out more.